This is the sixth article in a
series of 7 articles on the 7 "categories" of evil spirits
that the Scriptures describe. This article will focus on the "Perizzites". It is very important to understand how each
of these evil spirits operates in order to recognize if our hearts are currently
"infected" with any of them, and to recognize them in the hearts of
others. These spirits are real, and their effects in people's lives are
devastatingly real, so it is important to recognize their modus operandi.

Since entire books
could be written on each type of evil spirit, we could not possibly cover each
type completely in a single article. Each article in this series, therefore, will serve as
a brief overview of each type of spirit. God willing, we will post future
articles that will expand on each of these types of spirits.

Throughout this
series, whenever we refer to a "Perizzite", for example, we may be
referring to a Perizzite spirit or to a person
"infected" with that type of spirit.

A great deal can be
inferred directly from the meaning of the word "Perizzite". As we mentioned
in the first article of this series (under
the section "The 7 types
of evil spirits"), "Perizzite" means, "belonging to a
village". Villages have a connotation of "smallness".
People who grow up in villages are exposed to very limited opportunities for
growth; educational, cultural, and entertainment opportunities are scarce. If
not careful, people who grow up in villages can develop a very limited vision
of life. Dreams are easily spawned in an environment that stimulates people with
options and opportunities; since these are limited in a village, villagers are
very likely not to dream of great things,
and the few who do, dream of making it out of the village in order to succeed in
the big cities. Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" song, therefore,
would be an example of an "anti-Perizzite" song:

Start spreading the news, Iím leaving today
I want to be a part of it, New York, New York
These vagabond shoes are longing to stray
Right through the very heart of it, New York, New York

I wanna wake up in the city that doesnít sleep
And find Iím king of the hill, top of the heap

These little town blues are melting away
Iíll make a brand new start of it in old New York
If I can make it there, Iíll make it anywhere
Itís up to you, New York, New York

Since villages
impart a sense of "smallness", villagers tend to see
themselves as small and insignificant people who are a small part of a small and
insignificant community. People trapped by the Perizzite spirit, therefore, see
themselves as people with little potential whose only task in life is to live a
quiet biological existence and to stay out of the way of the people who are "really"
important in this world. Perizzites not only believe in their own
smallness, but also believe in the smallness of the "villagers" around
them, including their children. The Perizzite spirit, therefore, can lead to many
generations of spiritual stagnation. Since stagnation always leads to
poverty (in the material and in the spiritual realm), Perizzite spirits tend to
produce many generations of spiritual (and even
literal) poverty.

Perizzites
are "Tiny Tims"

The
Lord declares that Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son named Mephibosheth who was
crippled by the nurse who took care of him as she fled with him upon learning
that Saul and Jonathan had died in battle; she fled out of fear that the new
king would want to kill all members of Saul's "royal family":

"And
Jonathan, Saulís son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five years
old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse
took him up, and fled: and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he
fell, and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth" (2 Samuel 4:4)

Since David loved Mephibosheth's father, Jonathan, David wanted to
bless Mephibosheth, and called him to his presence:

"5Then
king David sent, and fetched him out of the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel,
from Lodebar. 6Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of
Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face, and did reverence. And David
said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold thy servant! 7And David
said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy
fatherís sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou
shalt eat bread at my table continually. 8And he bowed himself, and
said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I
am?" (2 Samuel 9:5-8)

Because of his
disability, Mephibosheth grew up to be a person with a very low self-esteem.
Notice how
Mephibosheth, even after hearing David's gracious words, refers to himself as a
"dead dog" (v8). Perizzites are cripples, lame people who feel
unworthy, who feel spiritually unable to walk on their own.

"Walking" in
Scripture is a spiritual figure of the ability to conquer and to establish kingdom
authority:

"2Moses
my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this
people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. 3Every
place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you,
as I said unto Moses." (Joshua 1:2-3)

"17Arise,
walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will
give it unto thee. 18Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt
in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the
LORD." (Genesis 13:17-18)

"Walking"
in Scripture also refers to the ability to judge:

"6In
the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were
unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways. 7The
inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah
arose, that I arose a mother in Israel. 8They chose new gods; then
was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in
Israel? 9My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered
themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the LORD. 10Speak, ye
that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way. 11They
that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water,
there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the LORD, even the righteous
acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel: then shall the people of
the LORD go down to the gates." (Judges 5:6-11)

Notice how verse 6
above refers to people not walking freely on "highways" and how verse
7 refers to "villages" (perazown in Hebrew), establishing the
spiritual connection between Perizzites and the inability to walk freely. Verse
10 then refers to those that "sit in judgment" and "walk by the
way". This means that "walking" is tied in Scripture to the
ability to make judgments. This is why verse 11 refers to the victory of God's
"villages" in Israel and to the people of the Lord going down to the
"gates", referring, therefore, to God's "little, village people"
making judgments, since the "gates" were the places where ancient
cities placed their "tribunals" or "courts". The
relationship between walking and making judgments is reinforced in other
passages of Scripture:

"And
David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd:
they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do
them." (Ezekiel 37:24)

"And
I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye
shall keep my judgments, and do them." (Ezekiel 36:27)

"11And
the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying, 12Concerning this house
which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my
judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my
word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father:" (1 Kings 6:11-12)

"Walking in His
judgments" implies an ability to know what those judgments are. This is why
Scripture also relates "walking" with being in front of God's
presence:

"Therefore
now, LORD God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that thou
promisedst him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on
the throne of Israel; so that thy children take heed to their way, that they
walk before me as thou hast walked before me." (1 Kings 8:25)

"And
if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart,
and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt
keep my statutes and my judgments" (1 Kings 9:4)

"And
as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, and do
according to all that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe my statutes and
my judgments" (2 Chronicles 7:17)

In all the verses
above, the word translated as "before" in phrases such as "walk
before Me" is the Hebrew word paniym, which literally means
"face". Therefore, the phrase "to walk before the Lord"
literally means, "to walk before the face of the Lord". In Scripture,
seeing a person "face to face" implies a direct relationship
with that person. This is why we, as believers, are called to make judgments,
because we have a direct relationship with the Lawgiver Himself. We have been
given the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:15-16), meaning that we have an
ability to hear from God and to discern His laws and spiritual principles. Since
"walking" is related to making judgments and to having a direct
relationship with God, we can infer that Perizzites, who are spiritual cripples,
are people who believe that they do not have the authority or the ability to
make spiritual judgments. As spiritual cripples, Perizzite believers refuse to
"walk", and prefer to delegate spiritual judgments to those whom they
believe to be more worthy of such an honor than their "tiny" and
"insignificant" selves. This creates a relationship of spiritual
dependency between the crippled Perizzite believer and those whom he or
she considers to be of a higher "spiritual caste".

I am so saddened when
I hear believers say, "Who am I to judge?". By saying this, they are
admitting that they are spiritually crippled, unable to walk in God's judgments
and denying a direct relationship between themselves and God the Father. Many
take the famous words in Matthew 7:1, "Judge not, that ye be not
judged" as a spiritual excuse to remain in their spiritual lameness.
However, they are taking these words out of their true spiritual context, since
the same Jesus who pronounced these words says the following later on:

"Judge
not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." (John 7:24)

If "judging" is
inherently wrong, why would the Lord Jesus tell us to "judge righteous judgment"
in the passage above? Why would Paul, under the anointing of the Spirit, say the
following to the believers in Corinth?

"1It
is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication
as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his fatherís
wife. 2And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he
that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. 3For I
verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though
I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, 4In the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit,
with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5To deliver such an one unto
satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day
of the Lord Jesus. 6Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a
little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" (1 Corinthians 5:1-6)

If
"judging" is inherently wrong, why would Paul say in verse 3 above
that he has already "judged that person" (the word
"concerning" that appears in verse 3 does not appear in the original
Greek text, and was added by the King James translators because, to their
natural minds, it sounded inappropriate to translate that Paul judged
another human being). Paul then proceeds to tell the Corinthians to deliver the
sinning believer unto satan. In 1 Corinthians 5:12, he reprimands them for not
judging those within the Church. Does all of the above sound
as if judging was a sin? Obviously not!

Why then, did the
Lord say "judge not" in Matthew 7:1? Because He was speaking to souls
at the time, not to spirits. The entire
"Sermon on the Mount", of which Matthew 7:1 is a part, focuses on submission
of the soul to the spirit. This is why the Sermon begins with a reference to
Jesus "seeing the multitudes" in Matthew 5:1; in Scripture,
"multitudes" generally refer to crowds of souls (compare Revelation
6:9-11 with Revelation 7:9). The Sermon then proceeds to talk about soulish
concerns such as food and shelter (the word translated as "life" in
Matthew 6:25, for example, is the Greek word psyche, which is the same
word in Greek for "soul"). The only time that the word
"spirit" is mentioned by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount is in
Matthew 5:3, where He said, "poor in spirit", referring to those who
are "reduced to beggary" by the world for abiding in the Spirit. Since
the Word declares that our spirits are rich (1 Corinthians 1:5, 2
Corinthians 6:10, Revelation 2:9), the "poverty" of Matthew 5:3 is
referring to poverty of the soul, not the spirit. This means that, even when
Jesus mentions the word "spirit" in the Sermon on the Mount, He is
talking to our souls, not our spirits.

Therefore, we
can conclude that Jesus is ordering our souls not to judge in Matthew
7:1. Our spirits, on the contrary, are called to make judgments.
Otherwise, we would have to tear out many passages from our Bibles:

"15But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is
judged of no man. 16For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he
may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." (1 Corinthians 2:15-16)

"God
standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods"
(Psalms 82:1)

"34Jesus
answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? 35If
he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be
broken ..." (John 10:34-35)

"22But
ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23To the general
assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God
the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect" (Hebrews
12:22-23)

When we judge in the
soul, we judge according to laws devised by our souls according to our own
interests and natural understanding. When we judge in the Spirit, we judge not
according to our own laws but according to the Laws of God. We become impartial
judges who apply His Laws using the mind of Christ, which goes beyond external
appearances and can discern the deep things of the heart and mind that are
completely invisible to our natural minds (1 Corinthians 2:14-16, Hebrews 4:12).

Perizzite believers
are unaware of their spiritual authority to judge, and therefore are to God as
spiritual cripples, unable to walk in His judgments and unable to establish
God's kingdom authority on Earth. As I was preparing to write this article today
(July 3rd, 2004), I heard the Lord say the phrase "Tiny Tim" to my
right ear. To be honest with you, I really did not know who "Tiny Tim"
was, even though I had heard the name before. The Lord then told me to search
the Internet to find out who Tiny Tim was, and, as I did, I stumbled on a story
about a little baby who survived an abortion (I found this story at aprisonerofhope.com
and faithfulhope.com, but these sites were later deactivated).
I also learned that "Tiny Tim" was the name of a character in Dickens'
story, "A Christmas Carol" (I guess I did not know about "Tiny
Tim" because, for a long time, I have been against Christmas, since its
historical origins are pagan, and it is not Biblically based, and no matter how
good our intentions may be, Jesus did not command us to celebrate
Christmas; that is man trying to find a human way to please God, and God
abhors that; Christmas was a humanly devised mechanism to get pagans to convert
to Christianity; if you do not agree, I encourage you to please do research on
the origins of Christmas and to pray to God that He show you the spiritual
underpinnings of Christmas, and to make a judgment on your own, in the Spirit).

From what I found on
the Internet about "Tiny Tim", I understood why the Lord whispered
this phrase to me when I was preparing to write this article. Tiny Tim was a crippled
child in Dickens' story, and the aborted baby named "Tiny Tim" was a
young human being that was considered insignificant by his mom, but who was very
important in God's eyes (from what I read, I understood that Tiny Tim's mom has
repented from what she did, so God has forgiven her). Unfortunately, the Church
today is full of Tiny Tims, full of believers whose spiritual calling dies before it
gets the opportunity to grow and blossom. Why? Because they buy into the
doctrine that preaches the greatness of the "minister" and the
littleness of "regular church folk". They buy into the doctrine
that says that only full-time ministers can make spiritual judgments and that
they are to sit quietly in their pews and take in all that is told to them,
without the right to judge what they hear. It angers Almighty God to have a
Church lorded over by pastors who have denied believers the right to have direct
access to God the Lawgiver, to God the Father, and they have stood as permanent
(not temporary) intermediaries between God and the rest of mankind (1 Peter
5:2-3, Matthew 19:6, Galatians 3:19-29). Even though the Church claims to be
living in New Testament grace, most of it still believes (spiritually speaking)
in the intermediaries of the Old Testament, convinced that only the "Aaronic"
priests (i.e.- full-time ministers) have a direct access to the Holy Place and
to the Holy of Holies. It grieves and angers
God to see a Church full of Perizzite cripples, full of Tiny Tims who are
dependent upon man and not directly upon Him, but God has prophesied in His word
that the days of these "Aaronic" priests are numbered, and that a
mighty people, an awe-inspiring spiritual Church will be raised up in these last
days to manifest His Glory on Earth (Zechariah 8:1-23, Micah 7:1-20). This will
be a walking remnant, not crippled by man, but empowered with the
Anointing of the Holy Spirit.

This word is for the
Christian Church in the United States:

You
have made mighty human efforts to abolish abortion from your land, but you will
not have spiritual authority to abolish it until you drive out the Perizzites
that are inside My Church, says the Lord. I will not give you victory over the
enemy outside until you defeat him inside. Stop aborting the spiritual callings
of My people, and stop crippling their spiritual authority. My times of judgment
are now, says the Lord, and I will roar like a furious lion against those who
have crippled My people. I will come against them and tear them to shreds, says
the Lord, for I am an awesome God, and the zeal for My people consumes Me.

Who
crippled the Perizzites?

To
answer this, we have to go back and see how Mephibosheth was crippled:

"And
Jonathan, Saulís son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five years
old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse
took him up, and fled: and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he
fell, and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth" (2 Samuel 4:4)

The
Holy Spirit points out that Mephibosheth was 5
years old when he was left crippled. Why "5"? As we have seen in
previous articles, "5" is a number that refers to ministerial grace,
i.e.- grace imparted by God in order to "minister" (or serve) other
people; this is why 5 ministries are listed in Ephesians 4:11. By
declaring that Mephibosheth was 5 at the time, the Lord is telling us that
Mephibosheth represents, in a spiritual sense, those who have been imparted a
grace to minister. Mephibosheth, spiritually speaking, was a minister in
God's eyes, in the same way that all of His people are ministers under the New
Covenant (Revelation 1:6, Isaiah 61:6, 1 Peter 2:9, 2 Corinthians 5:16-21).

Despite
the fact that Mephibosheth represents a minister who had authority to walk on his own,
his nurse decided to carry him in her arms when she decided to flee, in the same
way that full-time ministers nowadays refuse to allow believers under their care
to "walk" on their own (i.e.- to establish kingdom authority and to
pronounce spiritual judgments, as we saw above). Since Mephibosheth's nurse was
a "she", we can infer that God is referring here to the ministries in
the Church that perform a female
functionality; as we saw in a previous article, the ministries with a
"female" functionality are "pastors" and
"teachers". The Church is currently under a pastoral matriarchy
that acts as an overprotective mother that smothers the spirit (i.e.-
"male") authority of believers in the Body of Christ. Pastors create a
state of constant spiritual dependency on them, doing the exact opposite
of what good parents do. Even Joseph and Mary had a hard time accepting that
Jesus was under their care for a season, and that, eventually, they would
have to let Him go so that He could fulfill the Father's calling for His life
(Luke 2:41-50, John 2:3-4, Matthew 12:46-50). Good parents want their children
to learn to walk, to grow and become increasingly independent, until they are
ready to make a life on their own. Bad parents manipulate their children into
staying under their control, never letting go, even when the child has left home
and is already married; they continue to meddle in the son's or daughter's life
and matrimony, and are never willing to cut the umbilical cord. In such cases,
not only the parent is at fault. God holds pastors responsible for creating a
sense of constant dependency in believers, but God also holds believers responsible
for allowing themselves to stay in such a spiritual dependency.

Notice
how harsh Jesus' words were when Mary tried to maintain control over Him:

"2And
both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. 3And when
they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. 4Jesus
saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet
come." (John 2:3-4)

Jesus
did not say, "Yes, mommy, whatever you say". By calling her,
"woman", Jesus was saying to Mary, "Woman, your time is up; you
were faithful as a mother in taking care of me, but now I have to walk like a
spirit; Joseph and you were the father and mother of My soul, but
don't forget that God is the Father of My spirit. Step aside, woman, and
let God operate through Me."

As
we saw in a previous
article, pastors are susceptible to being contaminated by Canaanite spirits.
This is why there is an interesting connection in Scripture between the
Canaanites and the Perizzites:

"And
there was a strife between the herdmen of Abramís cattle and the herdmen of
Lotís cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the
land." (Genesis 13:7)

The
word translated as "herdmen" in the passage above is the Hebrew word raah,
which can also be translated as "shepherd" or "pastor". This
means that the passage above speaks of a conflict between the pastors of Abram's
cattle and the pastors of Lot's cattle. Abram means "exalted father"
while Lot means "covering". "Abram-ic" pastors are
those who act as good fathers who want those under their care to grow up spiritually
and do greater things than they did themselves:

"Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do
also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my
Father." (John 14:12)

"Lot-ic"
pastors, on the contrary, are those who want those under their care to remain
under their "covering" forever. It is interesting to note that, after
the conflict between Abram and Lot, it is Abram, not his nephew Lot, who decides that the
best thing to do was for each to go their separate ways. Since Abram did not
want to smother Lot under his covering, he was willing to let Lot go; this is
what good parents do:

"8And
Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee,
and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. 9Is not
the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt
take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right
hand, then I will go to the left." (Genesis 13:8-9)

Canaanite
pastors, i.e.- "Lot-ic" pastors, smother believers so much that they
allow Perizzite spirits to enter the Church and cripple those believers. This is
why the Holy Spirit took the time to mention the Canaanites and the Perizzites
in Genesis 13:7. If you read the rest of Genesis chapter 13, you will notice
that the Canaanites and the Perizzites are not mentioned again. We can therefore
say that God mentions them in verse 7 in order to give us a spiritual clue as to
what was going on spiritually when Abram and Lot separated.

To
answer the question at the top of this section, we can say that Perizzite
believers are crippled because of the spiritual over-protectiveness of Canaanite
pastors.

Shame
on you!

The
meaning of Mephibosheth's name also reveals the participation of other spirits
in the crippling of Perizzite believers. Mephibosheth means, "exterminating
the shame", and comes from the Hebrew word bosheth meaning,
"shame". The word bosheth comes from the word buwsh that
means, "to put to shame, to be disappointed". As we studied in a previous
article, the Jebusites are legalistic believers who love to humiliate others
and put them to shame. To cause shame in another person is not wrong
necessarily; sometimes it is the right thing to do, especially when we, as
believers, speak words of judgment that are guided by the Spirit (1 Corinthians
6:5, 1 Corinthians 15:34, 2 Thessalonians 3:14, Titus 2:8). However, as we saw
in a previous
article, Jebusites are enforcers of "spiritual castes", and make a
concerted effort to humiliate and put to shame believers when they begin to
manifest their God-given spiritual authority.

One
of the Jebusites' (and the Perizzites') favorite slogans is, "Once
small, always small". If the first time they saw you, they saw
you as a spiritual baby, they will always see you as a baby, no matter
how much you grow in Christ. They will only be willing to listen to you when you
are "publicly" recognized by some spiritual "authority" that
they revere:

"54And
when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue,
insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom,
and these mighty works? 55Is not this the carpenterís son? is not
his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and
Judas? 56And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath
this man all these things? 57And they were offended in him. But Jesus
said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in
his own house. 58And he did not many mighty works there because of
their unbelief." (Matthew 13:54-58)

"45Then
came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them,
Why have ye not brought him? 46The officers answered, Never man spake
like this man. 47Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also
deceived? 48Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on
him? 49But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed."
(John 7:45-49)

Many
Perizzite believers have bought into the idea that they are nothing but
"small and insignificant believers" after years of being exposed to
Jebusite believers who slap them in the face any time they claim to have a word
from the Lord, especially when that word defies the orders or
"teachings" of some Amorite
superior authority. In a sense, the Jebusites are the "shamers", while
the Perizzites are the "shamees". As we saw in a previous
article, Jebusites provoke spiritual lameness in fellow believers. Because
of their imposition of human judgments that promote human rules (as opposed to
spiritual judgments that promote God's laws and will), Jebusites incapacitate
believers and leave them begging next to the temple gate called "The
Beautiful", i.e.- the door to grace (Acts 3:2). Perizzites are beggars who do not
realize that there is a wonderful door of access to God's grace available to
them. It's like starving spiritually without knowing that you have a great deal
of spiritual currency stored to your name in God's bank. Cursed be the
Jebusites, and cursed be all those who cripple the spiritual authority of God's
children:

"1At
the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the
kingdom of heaven? 2And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set
him in the midst of them, 3And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye
be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom
of heaven. 4Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little
child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5And whoso
shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. 6But
whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better
for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in
the depth of the sea." (Matthew 18:1-6)

Just
as the Jebusites love to slap small believers and shout "Shame on
you!" and "Shut up", God will slap the Jebusites in the face and
shout,

"Shame
on you for putting My people to shame! Shame on you for stunting the growth of
My little ones. Shut up, for it is My time to speak."

God
has prophesied that the Amorite-Jebusite-Canaanite stronghold on the Church will
be broken:

"10Also
I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the
wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. 11And I raised up of
your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even
thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD. 12But ye gave the
Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not. 13Behold,
I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves. 14Therefore
the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his
force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself: 15Neither shall he
stand that handleth the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver
himself: neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself. 16And
he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith
the LORD." (Amos 2:10-16)

[The
Amorites are referred to explicitly
in verse 10. God's "little" believers are referred to in verse 11 when
speaking of sons who are prophets and young men who are Nazarites.
The Canaanites are referred to in
verse 12 when speaking of those who give wine to the Nazarites. The Jebusites
are also referred to in verse 12 when speaking of those who tell the prophets to
shut up. The Perizzite oppression
that tries to force believers to live as "villagers" with no spiritual
hopes and dreams is referred to in verse 13.]

"I
believe in angels"

Now
that we have established the spiritual connection between "cripples"
and the Perizzite spirit, we can proceed to examine an attitude that is very
common in Perizzite believers. This attitude can be observed in John chapter
5:

"1After
this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2Now
there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew
tongue Bethesda, having five porches. 3In these lay a great multitude
of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered,
waiting for the moving of the water. 4For an angel went down at a
certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after
the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he
had. 5And
a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. 6When
Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he
saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? 7The impotent man answered
him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool:
but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. 8Jesus saith
unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. 9And immediately the man
was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the
sabbath." (John 5:1-9)

The
word "Bethesda" comes from the Hebrew words beth, meaning,
"house", and checed, meaning, "mercy". Interestingly
enough, the word checed can also be translated at times as
"reproach, shame". "Bethesda", therefore, represents the
modern-day Church, which has been converted from a battle camp for spiritual
soldiers into a mere "soul hospital" for weak, sickly, and crippled
souls who attend this "house of mercy" where expert doctors (i.e.-
pastors) tend to their soul diseases, because, after all, "regular
folk" are too spiritually "stupid" to do anything for themselves
(or for each other) in God's Anointing. Any of these sickly patients who may dare
to stand up and assert his or her spiritual authority is automatically put to
shame. This is why Bethesda is not only the "house of mercy" but
also the "house of shame". Bethesda, therefore, is a house where
"mercy" is used as a subtle spiritual mechanism to preserve the
separation between full-time "ministers" and "regular folk". Pastors are
the spiritual doctors who went to medical school (i.e.- seminary) and are smart
enough to treat the average believer's soul needs. As believers are taught that
church is the place where they get "their needs met", instead of the
place where they are prepared for battle, believers are lulled into a spiritual
dependency on pastors. All battle camps have hospitals to treat the soldiers who
are injured in battle, but the pastoral matriarchy, through its
"gospel" of human mercy, has
turned the Church into a Bethesda-type wasteland of dependent and crippled
believers who can do nothing for themselves.

As
you can see from the passage quoted above, all the crippled and blind people
would wait by the pool of Bethesda, waiting for an "angel" to come
and stir the waters. The word "angel" literally means
"messenger", so it represents today's pastors. Today's believers are
dependent on what the pastor does. If the pastor prays for them, they will be
healed. If the pastor hears from God, they will have a word from the Lord. If
the pastor blesses their activities, God's blessings are ensured. This is why
the weak man from John chapter 5 above had been weak for 38 years. This
is the exact number of years that the people of Israel wandered aimlessly in the
desert because of their disobedience:

"14And
the space in which we came from Kadeshbarnea, until we were come over the brook
Zered, was thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war
were wasted out from among the host, as the LORD sware unto them. 15For
indeed the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from among the
host, until they were consumed." (Deuteronomy 2:14-16)

The
weak man of John chapter 5 waited for 38 years for someone to take him to the
waters when the angel stirred them (John 5:7). This man was dependent on the arm
of flesh, not on God, and cursed is the man who trusts in the arm of flesh:

"Thus
saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his
arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD." (Jeremiah 17:5)

From
the two passages quoted above, we can infer that God's wrath is kindled against
those who exercise a dependency on ministers and not on Him directly. Those who
depend on man are made to wander in the desert until they die; this is why there
are so many believers in church who may hold positions as deacons, teachers,
elders, etc., whose callings have been cast away by God long, long ago. God
cannot use people who relinquish their spiritual responsibility to grow. If you
become a Perizzite believer, a "villager" with no spiritual visions
and hopes (not only for yourself but for those around you), you are useless in
His kingdom, but it is up to you to reject the Perizzite doctrine.

Who
have you placed your faith on? Is your faith in "angels", i.e.- God's
messengers, or have you placed your faith on God Himself. Most believers are
"angel worshippers":

"16Let
no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or
of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17Which are a shadow of
things to come; but the body is of Christ. 18Let no man beguile you
of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into
those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19And
not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having
nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. 20Wherefore
if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living
in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, 21(Touch not; taste not;
handle not; 22Which all are to perish with the using;) after the
commandments and doctrines of men? 23Which things have indeed a shew
of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any
honour to the satisfying of the flesh." (Colossians 2:16-23)

If
you believe that being right with God consists of doing everything your local
church authorities instruct you to do, you are an "angel worshipper",
as verse 17 declares. Your walk with God does not consist of obeying external
church rules and regulations. Your relationship with God is a direct,
face-to-face relationship with Him, where you have direct experiences with
Him, and where you grow in Him and where your growth helps others to grow in
Christ as well. Notice how the Lord Jesus went directly to the sick man, out of all
the people who were lying there waiting for the waters to be stirred. Jesus was
trying to show this man that he had a direct line of communication with God. He
did not have to depend on man to be healed. By going directly to him, Jesus was
showing him that he was special to God, that God could distinguish him in a
multitude. He was not just another ant in the anthill (I don't know about you,
but, to me, all ants look alike). We are not insignificant "little"
believers to God. Each one of us is special to Him, and He has mighty plans and
purposes for each one of us:

"13Then
were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on
them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. 14But Jesus said,
Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the
kingdom of heaven. 15And he laid his hands on them, and departed
thence." (Matthew 19:13-15)

"Take
heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in
heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in
heaven." (Matthew 18:10)

When
will we stop depending on man? It grieves and angers God's heart to see us
behaving like Perizzite villagers.

So
much more to say

There is so much more
left to say about the Perizzite spirits!! God willing, we will post future
articles that talk more about how Perizzite spirits turn people into
"simplistic judges" and on how the "Philadelphia spirit",
which is the spiritual
counterpart of the Perizzite spirit, will be manifested in these latter days
in God's prophetic remnant to bring about the greatest revival mankind has ever
seen.